The Nature Conservancy has completed a $1.2 million renewable energy project, installing solar and wind systems that will almost eliminate the use of fossil fuels at Palmyra Atoll. “Installing solar and wind energy at Palmyra will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels by 95%,” said Mark Fox, acting executive director of the Conservancy’s Hawaii and…
Student summit educates and excites future engineers
The HOUSTEX 2015 Student Summit, sponsored by SME, hosted 64 students and nine educators from seven area high schools at the George R. Brown Convention Center in February. This year’s summit aimed to introduce students to the advantages of myriad careers in manufacturing, with a focus on 3D printing and alternative energy sources. Students competed…
Wraps come off Siemens 3.3 MW low-wind turbine
Turbine OEMs are constantly looking for ways to improve on existing models. Siemens’ recent SWT-3.3-130, with a 3.3 MW nominal power rating and 130-m rotor diameter, does just that. Ideal for medium to low-wind environments, the turbine is the newest addition to Siemens’ D3 platform (D for direct-drive technology and 3 for the predominant megawatt…
SheerWind to start first project in Europe
SheerWind recently signed a licensing agreement that will allow its technology to be marketed and deployed in Denmark. The agreement will enable wind-power developer E-Venturi, based in Slagelse, Denmark, to introduce SheerWind’s Invelox wind delivery system to potential customers. The pilot project is expected to be built in Denmark before the end of the year. E-Venturi will be the first company…
New system for design and quality control testing
The complete AccuDyne AC Dynamometer system for wind power testing applications is now available from SAKOR Technologies. The system can be used by multiple engineering groups to test and verify designs, as well as for quality control testing after manufacturing. Available in sizes ranging from 3 kW to 10 MW, AccuDyne Dynamometers are appropriate for…
Floating vertical-axis turbine makes waves in Europe
Leave it to clever French engineers to defy convention. Just scan the photos of offshore turbines going up in Europe and there is nary a floating two-blade or vertical-axis turbine in sight. But that will soon change thanks to the inventive minds at Nénuphar. In 2006, co-founders Charles Smadja and Frédéric Silvert launched the Vertiwind…
3.XM series turbines equipped for medium- and high-wind environments
Senvion could not have achieved 10 GW installed worldwide without the help of its 3.XM series turbines, more specifically the 3.4M104 and 3.2M114, the latter of which was recently launched in Canada. The 3.4M104 platform led to the development of the 3.XM series, Senvion said. All 3.XM series turbines are characterized by a modular, hybrid…
GE will supply 19 turbines to BIGA RES wind farm in Turkey
GE will supply energy developer IÇDAS with 19 GE 3.2-103 wind turbines for the BIGA RES wind farm, located near the town of Canakkale in northwestern Turkey. The 60-MW wind farm will feature GE’s most powerful wind turbine—the 3.2-103—and will be the first units of this type installed anywhere in the world. The BIGA RES…
Lloyd’s Register allies with MaxGrip to develop new software
Lloyd’s Register Energy announced it is forming an alliance with MaxGrip to develop a new risk-based inspection (RBI) software module called “strEAM+ RBI.” The collaboration leverages Lloyd’s Register Energy’s integrity engineering and RBI experience with MaxGrip’s expertise in software development and its strEAM+ framework—which offers a unique software solution that directly embeds into an enterprise’s…
Norvento lengthens blade, extends rotor diameter, lowers turbine cost
Medium-scale wind turbine manufacturer Norvento has launched a new, extended 24-m rotor for its nED100 turbine, capable of increasing the Annual Energy Production (AEP) of the 100 kW machine by 8% on average. With a 20% Feed-in Tariff degression planned for April 2015, the new rotor—available at no additional cost to new buyers—will help landowners…
87 turbines, 200 MW added to Logan’s Gap Wind project
Siemens has been awarded another order from Pattern Energy Group LP (Pattern Development) to supply and install 87 SWT-2.3-108 wind turbines for the Logan’s Gap Wind project. The 200-MW project, located in Comanche County, Texas, will create enough clean energy to power about 50,000 homes in Texas annually. The SWT-2.3-108 turbines have a power rating…
BorWin2 and HelWin1 offshore projects successfully commissioned
The High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) offshore grid connection projects BorWin2 and HelWin1, situated off the North Sea coast of Germany, were both recently successfully commissioned. Prysmian secured these two projects in mid-2010 as part of overall contracts awarded to consortia between the company and Siemens Energy by the Dutch-German transmission system operator TenneT for…
Gamesa will supply an aggregate of 260 MW of wind power in India
Gamesa continues to grow its presence in India with two recently signed agreements for the supply of an aggregate 260 MW. The first order, from Indian developer and independent power producer (IPP) Greenko, encompasses the supply, installation and commissioning of 80 of the company’s G97-2.0 MW turbines (160 MW). More specifically, Gamesa will install 30…
Sheerwind’s 200-kW Invelox selected for pilot project in Florida
Tampa Electric has selected the 200-kW Invelox wind power generation from Sheerwind to be built as a pilot project in 2015 in Apollo, Fla. for the Big Bend Power Station. After sufficient data is collected (6 to 8 months) and if the technology is shown to be viable, Tampa Electric may purchase a utility-scale 1.8…
Milbank continues prominent role in wind and energy related financings across Latin America
Continuing its strong run of Latin America financing deals in the renewables sector, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP advised Goldman Sachs & Co. and BofA Merrill Lynch as initial purchasers of $204 million in 144A/Regulation S green bonds issued by Peruvian wind-energy producer Energía Eólica S.A. Energía Eólica is a subsidiary of ContourGlobal, headquartered…
Nordex supplies seven turbines for wind project in Poland
RWE Innogy recently ordered seven N117/2400 wind turbines from Nordex for the 17-MW Opalenica project in Poland. The wind turbines are to be installed in summer 2015. The company has also signed a 15-year premium service contract for the turbines. The Opalenica project is located in the Poznan region. RWE opted for the N117/2400 as…
SgurrEnergy lends services to Nova Scotia wind projects
SgurrEnergy’s North American arm is conducting lender’s independent engineer services on the Watts Wind II portfolio, which comprises three sites located in the Nova Scotia communities of New Glasgow (6.4 MW), Barrington (3.2 MW) and Wedgeport (1.8 MW). The team supported National Bank of Canada, the lender, through a technical due diligence review, bank-grade energy…
Nordex shows growth in Germany in Q4 2014
Nordex’s year-to-date order intake in Q4 2014 has risen to 112.8 MW, an increase of about 36%. Eleven different project developers, municipal utilities, citizen wind farms, and private-equity investors in the German market have ordered 47 turbines for their wind farms. Approximately 90% of these are IEC3 turbines designed for low-wind locations, a segment in…
George Manos appointed SheerWind president
SheerWind recently appointed George A. Manos as president of the company. Manos, formerly the president of U.S. Steel’s real estate department, will take the seat as SheerWind’s President beginning January 2015. Manos is a Canton, Ohio native, earning his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Ohio Northern University in 1973. He immediately began working for U.S.…
Remote sensing equipment supports wind development in South Africa
Wind energy developer, Windlab, will begin using the Vaisala Triton Sonic Wind Profiler, a ground-based remote sensing system, to assist with ongoing and critical site selection work in Africa. The Vaisala Triton can be used either in locations where meteorological masts might be inappropriate or difficult to install, or used in conjunction with these masts…